DirecTV orders Neil LaBute's 'Full Circle' to series

DirecTV is doubling down on scripted television: The satellite service provider announced today that it has ordered 10 episodes of Full Circle from filmmaker and playwright Neil LaBute, making his TV debut. The series “examines the human condition and relationships through a series of conversations between 11 people whose lives, unbeknownst to them, are intertwined,” according to a press release. It continues: “Full Circle is a modern day La Ronde meets My Dinner with Andre as it explores the nature of human contact and true togetherness in our current technology-driven world.”

LaBute will serve as writer and co-exec producer on the series. Nick Hamm, the producer/director behind DirecTV’s Rogue, will exec-produce/direct Full Circle.

“In dissecting how closely connected we all are, Full Circle will take viewers on a journey that will traverse the full range of human emotion. I know the series will flourish under the stewardship of Neil and Nick Hamm,” said DirecTV Senior VP Chris Long.

LaBute’s prolific stage career — including In The Company of Men, The Shape of Things, and reasons to be pretty — is matched by his work in film, where he has often adapted his own plays or adapted previous works in a new style, such as 2006’s The Wicker Man and 2010’s Death at a Funeral. Most recently, LaBute adapted his Some Girl(s) for the screen, starring Adam Brody. EW’s Laura Hertzfeld wrote, “[It] has all the classic elements of a LaBute film — the intimacy of a play, loads of dark humor, and a manipulative protagonist.”

Production on Full Circle will start this summer in L.A. with a premiere planned for this fall.